2 Weeks to Go ...

On Thursday, I trailered the scooter to Tampa in one long, solo 1,000 mile day in the car. Then I took it to Miami the next night after my meeting. That all went according to plan. I got to play with the new GPS unit that I bought for the trip. The Garmin Nuvi worked well on the ride down. It even found me a place to call ahead for carry out dinner in Orlando so I could minimize my time stopped.

In Tampa I got an email from the logo artist. She has revised the logo, but it's still not done. I got some t-shirts to screen print at American Apparel in Coral Gables. I got some laser printer transfer paper at the fabric store. Worst case, we can do some laser-printed t-shirt tansfers and iron them on, and put some printed logos on magnets for the scooter. I want to make it look as professional as possible for fund-raising, though.

Loriann emailed out a fund-raising appeal a week ago to some friends. That's the difference between us: I want it right, she wants it fast. I was furious because it was not ready to go yet. It got some response, but there were some things about it that CPL rightly wanted to change, and I hope to get a lot more when we send the completed appeal.

I passed out my flyer at my lawyer coaching class in Tampa. Karen wrote a check on the spot. Thanks! Steve gave good suggestions about how to position things to get more sponsors, and checks from clients. Everyone agreed that the most powerful factor is the story of my nephews, Myron and Corbin, who have service dogs. Max and Coaty go to school with them. The dogs carry their backpacks, pick up dropped pencils, and open doors. This picture resonates with people. I need to get corporate sponsors, because the math is simple: $21,000 = 210 $100 checks!. I don't even know 210 people.

Logistics are falling into place. I called our friend Helen in Mississippi, whom I haven't seen since her wedding many years ago. She'll give me a place to stay out there. JD will put me up the next night in Oklahoma City. Earl will put me up when I get to Denver before my family arrives. I still need to contact the folks in Atlanta and arrange that; there are lots of options there. In Tampa, I have to choose whether to stay with starving scooterists for an authentic experience, or with retired clients for a good night's sleep. What would you do?

The scooter is running well. I met Darren who's a trained GTS mechanic at Vespa Tampa. He says it's not worth putting the Bitubo shock on because the GTS shock is already beefed up from the GT shock. I called GEICO to make sure the scooter is on the insurance policy.

Here are a few sobering details. I signed up for MedJet Assist, which ships a person and their motorcycle home after an incident, alive or not. I got a few hundred thousand of accidental death and dismemberment insurance, which is usually wasteful, and a long-term care policy, for which I might otherwise be a little young, to supplement the life insurance.

On my return trip tomorrow, I'll be visiting Myron and Corbin's family in Augusta. I am bringing the smaller green scooter home from Miami on the trailer.

The score:

Miles today - 0
Miles total - 0
Snake bites - 0
Dog bites - 0
Interesting characters met - 0
Times I got wet - 0